


Who Am I to Complain?

by redheadthunderhead



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Broody elf is concerned about girlfriend, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fenris does his magical fisting trick, Hawke gets drunk, Hawke gets stabbed, Hawke makes bad decisions, Purple!Hawke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 01:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5438030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redheadthunderhead/pseuds/redheadthunderhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hawke's terrible drunken plan leads to a bit of an inconvenience.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Am I to Complain?

**Author's Note:**

> This was written over the course of a few days so I hope there aren't to many errors. Curse me for writing late at night.

Their plan was doomed from the start. 

There wasn’t anything unusual about that fact. None of Hawke’s companions could think of a time when they had not felt that they were not in danger since meeting her. It was all part of the thrill. Sometimes, though, she went to far. This was one of those times.

She had been drunk when she formulated the plan. Very drunk. They were three hours into Wicked Grace night when Hawke simply stood up in front of her friends to share what she thought was an absolutely brilliant idea. 

“I found a slaver den,” she announced, and after a lingering glare from Aveline she added, “Okay, Aveline found the slaver den, but I helped.” Aveline crossed her arms and her gaze continued to bore into Hawke. “I had nothing to do with finding the cave,” Hawke ultimately admitted, and Aveline was finally satisfied. 

Hawke had been so busy clarifying this that she did not notice money being exchanged between her friends, or the smug look on Varric’s face as he received the majority of the money in question. Hawke would later learn that there was a bet placed on whether or not she would think up a plan that would, without a doubt, get them killed. Surprisingly, it seemed that some of her companions still had a little faith in her. Whatever they had was gone now. 

“So we’re going to, what, just walk in there and hope that the sight of us scares them into submission?” Varric questioned after Hawke did not elaborate. “Or maybe send Broody in to fight them alone.” 

“We are not sending Fenris in alone,” Hawke answered before Fenris even had a chance to think about the idea. The slight slur in her voice would have been comical if the expression on her face was not so fierce. Even if she was drunk, Hawke was still fiercely protective of Fenris whether he needed it or not. “We all need to go, Aveline said it was a big one, and I’m sure she wasn’t talking about Donnic’s--” 

“Hawke, no,” Aveline warned. 

“You said it was big! We need everyone!” 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Aveline sighed, and Hawke pulled her chair closer to Fenris, nearly missing it as she sat down heavily. 

\---

Hawke’s (embarrassingly underdeveloped) plan was set in motion the next morning, once everyone had enough time to at least get to the point where they could see straight. She gathered her merry band of misfits and they followed Aveline to the cave the slavers were holed up in. 

“We’ve been here before,” Merrill observed once they got a good look at the area. 

“We’ve been in a lot of caves, Merrill,” Hawke said. “We’ve cleared a lot of them out, too. I don’t understand what the appeal of a cave full of dead bodies is.”

“It branched off into two paths that led to the same part in the back,” Varric recalled. “We could split up and meet in the middle. Not that I’m questioning your brilliant plan of rushing in there and setting anything that moves on fire, of course. Just a thought.”

“A thought that isn’t quite as likely to get us killed,” Aveline added.

“Have you ever been in danger when you’re with me?” Hawke asked sweetly.

“This cave, two years ago. I almost got eaten by a spider,” Isabela said as if she had the line rehearsed. 

“You came this close to setting me on fire the other day,” Anders added.

“Fenris would have loved that,” Hawke laughed, looking over to the elf who had been silent all morning. She could tell that there was something wrong and considered talking to him, but decided against it. There was not enough time right now and it would be better to talk in private. Fenris was always more honest with her then. “Anyway, since you all seem to have a problem with my leadership skills, we’ll take Varric’s idea. Fenris and Varric are with me, Anders, Bela, and Merrill go with Aveline. Follow the tunnels and they lead to a huge cavern in the middle. Don’t get lost, don’t die, and kill every slaver you come across. Aveline, you take the right path, the rest of us will go left.”

“You are a terrible speaker.”

“Thanks, Varric.”

\- -

“Something’s wrong,” Hawke decided shortly after they began down the left path. “Where are they?”

“Maybe you scared them off with your screaming a few minutes ago,” Varric offered. That could have very well been the case. They had encountered a few spiders and Hawke’s piercing scream was loud enough to be heard all the way back in Kirkwall. Hawke made a face and shuddered. 

“You expect me to not be afraid of something that has that many legs and is bigger than me, then?” 

“I must have gotten the wrong impression of you when you asked Flemeth if she could teach you how to turn into a dragon.” 

“That’s different.”

“How so?”

“I want to be a dragon,” Hawke announced for what must have been the fifteenth time since Varric had known her. She was still as determined as ever, even if it had been years since they last saw Flemeth. 

“So you’ve told us. But that, my friend, would likely involve magic, and I don’t think that Fenris would appreciate you getting involved with any more magic than you already have to.”

“Has that ever stopped her before?” Fenris finally spoke and Hawke looked toward him immediately, relieved to hear him after he had been quiet all morning. She gave him a smile that, if Fenris did not know any better, was almost apologetic. 

“Hey, at least I have no interest in blood magic,” Hawke said. “And I haven’t gotten involved with it other than helping Merrill.” Fenris opened his mouth, no doubt to say something about Merrill, but Hawke’s stare kept him quiet. “Come on, let’s get moving. It shouldn’t be too much farther.”

\-- 

It was nearly an hour before they finally wandered their way into the main cavern where they found the rest of the group in the middle of a battle with the slavers they had been looking for. 

“Oh, they started without us,” Hawke said with mock disappointment. “Well boys, have fun.” Before she could be stopped, Hawke got much too close to the battle, staff in hand as she tried to catch the attention of some of the attackers. It always amazed Fenris that she was so eager to be right in the battle when she had magic on her side. One less mage throwing fireballs from a distance did make things a little safer, however. 

All was going to plan, enemy after enemy falling as crossbow bolts sliced through the air, steel met steel, and the unmistakeable smell of magic mixed with the scent of blood. Hawke’s voice rang out, calling out the location of enemies when they tried to flank someone. 

She was too busy watching out for the rest that she didn’t notice a stray coming to face her until it was too late.

The scream that is ripped from Hawke’s throat was heart-stopping, followed by a pulse of magic that knocked everybody, ally or enemy, back several feet. She fell to her knees, not quite grasping at the knife now embedded just above her hip. The blood had already started to soak her robes. She took a shaky breath before looking up at the attacker, eyes glinting with the ever-present humor that she had even in the worst situations. 

“I think…I think you dropped something,” she said with a weak, breathy laugh, hand closing around the dagger.

“Hawke, do not take that blade out,” Anders called from a few feet away as he finished dealing with his own bunch of enemies. “It’s all that’s keeping the blood in.”

“I can’t just keep it, Anders,” she whined. Whatever argument she was as about to make was quickly rendered useless and Fenris sent his fist through the man’s chest and crushed his heart in one fluid movement. He gave Hawke the look he always gave when she did something stupid before moving to her side. “Fenris, now he’ll never get this back.”

“Not now, Hawke,” he sighed. Anders had come over now, already poking around the wound. 

“You’re letting him touch me?” Hawke asked incredulously before a smile crossed her face. “Anders, I think you need to check Fenris out, too.”

“Only because you’re hurt,” Fenris scoffed.

“Hurt? Me? Never.”

“You got stabbed.”

“What? Oh, right, I guess I did.”

“Hawke, hold still. This is going to hurt,” Anders warned before finding the right angle to pull the knife out, causing Hawke to cry out in pain. The mage’s healing magic took effect and she sighed from the relief. 

“Teach me how to do that, Anders. I think Fenris would like it a little better if I was the one healing myself.” Hawke shot a grin in Fenris’s direction, who had long since learned to ignore most of her remarks. She was right in this matter, at least. Not that he’d admit it.

“If you did not rush into battle so carelessly, you would not be in this situation,” Fenris scolded. 

“Aw, you know me better than that. Danger calls to me.” The expression on his face told her that her time for making jokes had run out, and she frowned and leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek. “I’m sorry.”

“Hawke!” Anders snapped when she moved. “Sit still for a few more seconds.” The words “sit” and “still” were not in her vocabulary, and the “seconds” passed almost agonizingly slow. “...Done.”

She hopped to her feet, nearly falling as she forgot about the blood loss. Fenris caught her before she had the chance. “Well, this certainly isn’t how I pictured my morning going, but who am I to complain? Is everyone else alright?” Hawke asked as she looked over her friends for any injuries. “Yes? Good. Let’s go get drinks.”

“Hawke, no,” Aveline stated firmly.

“I just got stabbed, I think I deserve to get drunk.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Varric added. “She gets drunk every other night.” 

“Aveline’s right, you need to take it easy,” Anders said. 

“Fine, I’ll go.” The disappointment on her face was nearly good enough to be convincing. “Have fun without me. Fenris?”

“I'm right behind you.”


End file.
